Unreal Tournament is a first-person shooter computer game. It was Epic Games's 1999 follow-up title to Unreal, and focused mainly on multiplayer action. It was launched in direct competition to id's Quake III Arena, released less than two weeks later. Although graphically Quake III Arena was superior, Unreal Tournament had both vastly superior bot A.I, "alternate fire" for weapons which introduced a further element of strategy and more immersive multiplayer capabilities. As with the original Unreal, the ease with which players could create and release mods to the core game was a key factor contributing to Unreal Tournament's longevity. Unreal Tournament improved upon the mod-friendly nature of its predecessor with the inclusion of support for mutators.

Unreal Tournament was also released on PlayStation 2 in 2000 and on Sega Dreamcast in 2001. Both versions were four players. The Dreamcast version had 8-player online support while Playstation 2 did not.

Screenshot from Unreal Tournament's capture the flag game mode

Although the game was mainly intended for multiplayer use, it also had a modest single player game as well. Obviously, there was not much of a story, but the bots' AI was incredible for the time and still surpassess that of many current games. The ultimate aim was to defeat Xan Kriegor, Champion of the Tournament. The player can choose the level of difficuly of the game (e.g., Novice for the newbies and Godlike for hardcore gamers)

Mod support

Selected mods and mutators for Unreal Tournament:

• Action Realism - Players are realistically crippled depending on where they are shot. They also lose energy if they have open wounds, and must stop to apply bandages.
• Akimbo Arena - Allows players to use two of any weapon, one in each hand.
• Instagib - All players have high-powered Shock Rifles that can blow an opponent apart with a single hit. This is the mod most played in online gaming.
• Infiltration - Realism modification featuring modern day military weapons and scenarios.
• Tactical Ops Popular action modification, later bundled and spun off into its own retail product.
• Excessive Overkill - High powered weapons, no Self Damage and the ability to self boost around the maps with varying weapons. Originally tested by Clan CFH (Calibrated for Harm).

External link

• Unreal Tournament official website